We are always on the look out for a new form of life to which we can extend our dominion over…….and so the scientist search and search and look and look….and all their hard work has found a……you guessed it!….A new life form!
Leave it to the Rocket Scientists at NASA……..
In a press conference held at NASA’s Washington D.C. headquarters, scientists announced that they had discovered a new form of bacteria, known as GFAJ-1, in California’s Mono Lake that has DNA completely foreign to anything ever before found on Earth. It substitutes arsenic at the DNA level for phosphorus.
That would distinguish it from every other form of life known to man, all of which, no matter how diverse, is comprised of the same six elements, phosphorus, sulfur, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. But the bacteria found in Mono Lake–which is known for its unusual chemistry, including very high levels of salinity, alkalinity, and arsenic–is made partly of arsenic, and has no phosphorus in its DNA.
NASA feels that this discovery is important because it will help scientists with many areas of future research, such as the “study of Earth’s evolution, organic chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, disease mitigation, and Earth system research. These findings also will open up new frontiers in microbiology and other areas of research.”Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20024450-52.html#ixzz16zQOlMBr
Yes. Good post. There is another side to this that you don’t mention… it shows quite clearly that life will form if it possible can – it’s simply a fact of chemistry. More significantly still, whilst “normal” DNA as we have always thought of it up until now requires some pretty specific conditions to form and grow and will struggle in many environments, how many other combinations could work to produce life?
That being so, it might well be that many VERY different alien lifeforms could be quite common throughout the universe in places we would previously have considered to be impossible.
Could THAT explain the Tea Party?
See? Two can play at that game… 😆
Well done! Thinking it over……it could explain the TP….but NOT Palin…..
Oh, Palin is surely from another galaxy entirely – or perhaps even an alternative universe???
Then again, there seems to me to be considerable evidence that many of those we are discussing are probably actually from the “dark side”. Where the heck is Luke Skywalker when we need him?
The Dark Side? I like it…..May I use it in a post, a future post…..if I can get my shit together….
Did you ever see the “Buckaroo Banzai” movie? Alternate dimension is the good call here…
Yes and be my guest. Maybe it’s even the dark side from an alternative dimension… 😆
I’m not sure exactly what I will use it as…but then enough coffee and anything is possible….